Flutter
by madamada-chan
Summary: Kise had this nagging feeling that the distance between them was just getting wider and wider. -reposted


Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi. This is just fan work based on it :)

A/N: I also took this fic down before, but since I put "Carrot and Sticks" back up, I figured I should also put this back up to be fair. Again, I'm really sorry to those who reviewed it before. Please don't think I didn't appreciate it because I really did.

Enjoy!

-x-

**Flutter**

_'Again'_

Kise frowned.

He could not quite remember when it started, and he has already lost count of how many times he had seen it, but once again he noticed Kuroko staring at Aomine, although he had the feeling that Kuroko was not really looking _at _said teammate. No, it felt more like he was looking at something beyond Aomine, but as for what, Kise did not know.

The one thing he was sure of was that the way Kuroko looked at Aomine now was definitely different from the way his eyes gently gazed at him before- a gaze filled with respect, a little bit of fondness, and sometimes, even a hint of playful mischief.

He could not put his finger on what he sees now in his eyes. But he can sense that the twin sea-colored orbs no longer gleam as brightly as they did before. It was like the difference between how the ocean sparkles under a bright summer sun, and how dull it looks on a grey cloudy afternoon.

The staring, he found, was also random. Sometimes he would notice it after practice. Sometimes during lunch. Sometimes, like today, would be while stretching before practice. It also did not last for too long. So like with everything else that Kuroko did, it was far too easy to miss.

Kise did not understand why this bothered him, and yet no one else had said anything. Their last game together as a team was drawing close, so he wondered if maybe everyone else was too busy getting in top form. They were Teiko, after all, so they would not settle for anything less than the championship.

Midorima was busy polishing his nails, a habit their team's number one shooter had to make sure his shooting accuracy was at its best. Murasakibara was carefully rolling the edges of a bag of half-finished taro chips. Akashi was not there yet, as always. Even after two years of being in the same team, Kise still had no way of telling if the captain would show up or not.

As for Aomine, he had been lazily dribbling a basketball, all this time completely unaware of his Shadow's unseeing gaze. If Kise had not known him, he would think that maybe their phantom member had become invisible to Aomine as well. But it was precisely because he knew Aomine that he knew so well how impossible that was. After all, the one closest to Kuroko in their entire team was his Light.

Of course, Kise did not want to lag behind so he had been faithful to his training menu and never failed to show up at practice. But more than that, even if it meant being called too sentimental, he really wanted to do his best in this game no matter what simply because he wanted to have a wonderful memory of it. Although he himself knew that he would be lying if he said he had no desire to score more points than his teammates.

"50 points" he thought, inwardly nodding to himself. Yes, that would be his goal.

"Is that all, Kise?" Aomine asked, looking at him with his usual smug grin.

"Eh?" Kise unwittingly wondered for a moment what the heck he was talking about, until it hit him that he had probably said it out loud.

Aomine waved his head sideways, getting stray azure locks away from his eyes before he got up and walked towards Kise, still lazily dribbling the ball until he flopped down beside where Kise was doing some stretches. He settled for spinning the ball on his right hand instead.

"Eighty points" He said, casually resting his left elbow on Kise's shoulder. "I heard my favorite NBA player scored that much all by himself. So that's my target, at least."

"You're crazy, Aominecchi!" Kise half-heartedly blurted out. He knew that goal sounded impossible for a mere middle school player. But just as well, knew full well that it didn't sound impossible at all for someone with Aomine's ability.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Kuroko was done stretching and had gotten up. He looked like he was about to start to running laps for warm up. Kise quickly wrapped up his own stretching and stood up as well.

"I'm gonna go run with Kurokocchi. Wanna join us?" He asked Aomine.

He noticed that the two had not been talking as much lately, so he was hoping this would be a good chance. But that little hope burst like a bubble when Aomine simply said "Nah" and continued to lethargically spin the basketball in his fingertip. Kise did not completely understand why, but the nonchalant response irritated him somehow. He ran to catch up with Kuroko, but not before swatting the ball off Aomine.

"Kise, you bastard!" Aomine yelled after him. When Kise looked back and stuck his tongue out at him, he saw the ace 'Tsk!' while sluggishly picking up the ball.

As he was approaching Kuroko, Kise noticed how small Kuroko's back really was. Kuroko had always been lagging (far) behind during running practice, so there was not much opportunity to see him from the back. Seeing this amazed him all over again how someone so petite was not just his teammate, but a fellow regular in the so-called Generation of Miracles.

Being on the same team gave him the privilege to both play with his smaller teammate on the court and watch him up close from the bench. There was no doubt that he respected Kuroko. So much so, he had started to wish that he could continue to play with him when he goes to high school and even after that.

Kise snapped out of his thoughts when Kuroko stopped running. He jogged towards him and was about to ask why, but could not bring himself to do so when he saw the sad look in Kuroko's eyes. Following Kuroko's gaze he saw that Aomine had moved to one side of the gym and was leaning on the wall, napping. Kise felt an eyebrow twitch. He took a step towards Aomine, but then he saw Momoi was already walking towards him- flowing peach strands swaying behind her- no doubt about to give her childhood friend an earful.

Kuroko gave a soft sigh then continued to run. Kise followed suit. This time, however, he had the strangest feeling that Kuroko was drifting farther and farther away.

It was so weird. Kuroko was by no means a fast runner. And Kise knew for sure that if he ran just a little bit faster he could easily catch up.

And yet, for some reason, he had this nagging feeling that the distance between them was just getting wider and wider. He did not like it at all. Before he knew it, he found himself increasing his speed until he caught up with Kuroko.

"Kise-kun?" Kuroko looked up at him, looking slightly surprised. "What is it?"

"Eh?" Kise blinked.

"My arm…"

It finally dawned on him that his hand must have moved on its own and grabbed Kuroko's arm

"Oh! Woops" He chuckled, letting go.

Kuroko just looked at him with childlike curiosity and Kise found his expression totally adorable. He mentally patted himself when he somehow managed to refrain from saying it out loud. After being momentarily distracted, he thought back on why he had done that.

_'Ah…Just now, it felt like he was going to disappear.' _

Kise met Kuroko's eyes, searching. He then smiled to himself as he made up his mind. Just like the rest of the Generation of Miracles, he was already aiming to get into a school with a reputed basketball team. So after their final game, he will ask Kuroko where he intended to go, and then try to persuade him to go to the same school instead.

And maybe- just maybe- this time around he can be his Light.

Kise opened his mouth, about to say something, but before he could the gym's door rattled open and Akashi came in. They all lined up and got to their positions as they always did. After the captain gave his instructions, their practice commenced.

-x-

"Ohhh, so this is Seirin" Kise took in the surroundings. The buildings looked newly built, the lawn seemed freshly mowed and the bushes were nicely trimmed. "As expected of a new school. It looks nice."

Just the night before, he had gotten a text from Momoi.

/Kii-chan, guess what?  
I finally found out where Tetsu-kun goes to (heart)  
He's at Seirin Private High School./

He was not completely unaware of the gazes that quickly followed him, but there was only one person on his mind at the moment. He had not seen his former teammate in a while, so he was looking forward to meeting him again. As he walked on, he thought back on that time before Kuroko disappeared, and wondered if it would have made a difference had he said the words he had been meaning to say.

_'I'm _here_, Kurokocchi. I want to keep playing with you.'_

- End-


End file.
